"Please Don't Just Eat Them"... How a New Way to Eat Snacks Sent Sales Soaring 30% [How We Shop Today]

"Soak, Freeze, Sprinkle"... 'Texture Makeovers' Trend
Best-Selling Snacks Enjoy a Second Heyday

Editor's NoteWhat are people buying these days? From household essentials picked up at Daiso and cosmetics that sell out at Olive Young to bread people line up to buy, familiar scenes of consumption capture the market trends of the moment. "How We Shop Today" is a series that explores today's consumption trends through everyday bestsellers. Which products are winning people over, and what strategies are opening their wallets? The series takes an in-depth look at changes on the consumer front.

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A trend known as "Matkku," or customizing flavors, is spreading among younger consumers, who are reinventing familiar, long-running best-selling snacks with new textures to suit their tastes. Moving beyond the conventional approach of eating products as they are, consumers are soaking them in milk or drinks, freezing them, or sprinkling them over desserts as toppings. As these "texture makeovers" spread on social media, long-established brands are enjoying a second heyday.

Rediscovering textures through "soak, freeze, and sprinkle" recipes... Sales jump 30%

According to Orion on October 9, its flagship perennial bestsellers, including Choco Chip Cookies, My Gummy, and Mitz, are being rediscovered by young consumers as ingredients for customized desserts, driving steep sales growth.

The standout product is Orion's long-running flagship cookie, Choco Chip Cookies. Recently, a recipe for soaking the cookies in milk and eating them, known as "malmeok," has become popular, particularly on short-form video platforms.

Choco Chip Cookies Matcha Latte Flavor, launched in March, has generated buzz for its flavor, which is said to resemble a chocolate-matcha latte from an upscale dessert cafe, while the cookie softens when soaked in milk. Riding this wave, Choco Chip Cookies scored a hit, with sales from January to August this year rising approximately 30% from the same period last year.

Orion's perennial bestsellers: Choco Chip Cookies, My Gummy, and Mitz. Orion.

The gummy brand My Gummy is sustaining its popularity with an "eolmeok" recipe: soak the gummies in a carbonated drink for a set amount of time, then freeze them. This method creates a two-layered texture, with a crisp exterior and chewy center. It has become so popular that related short-form videos have surpassed 4 million views.

Mitz, a mini cocoa-flavored cookie, has also made headlines for recipes that go beyond soaking it in milk. The "ppumeok" recipe involves sprinkling the cookies over yogurt or ice cream to maximize their crunch. Orion has embraced consumers' creative uses of the product, going so far as to officially launch Oh!Granola Mitz S'mores, a product inspired by those ideas.

Beyond simple recipe combinations to "texture makeovers"... Modisumers evolve

The food industry sees the Matkku craze not as a passing fad, but as the result of evolving consumer desires. In the past, modisumers focused on creating new flavors by combining different products, as with Jjapaguri (a mix of Chapagetti and Neoguri). The latest consumer trend, however, has evolved toward tailoring the texture of a product itself to personal taste.

This trend coincides with the tendency of younger generations, who are comfortable in digital environments, to be particularly sensitive to texture, one of the elements that stimulate the senses. The process of combining preferred textures, such as crispiness, chewiness, and softness, has itself become a form of play, transforming snacks from simple treats into "creative materials."

Experts say, "This appears to reflect consumers' desire to take the lead in the preparation process and express their individuality, a tendency that carries over into food consumption." They add, "Given that sharing experiences on social media is essential for this generation, content featuring texture makeovers that offer visual and auditory enjoyment at the same time appears to spread even faster."

A smart way for long-running brands to survive... Experiences open wallets

For companies, the Matkku trend is also a highly efficient marketing opportunity to preserve brand heritage while bringing in a large number of new, younger customers. Consumers discover new value in products themselves, extending their lifespan and shortening the consumption cycle without the need for major additional investment in research and development.

Snacks are on display at the Hanaro Mart Yangjae branch in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

Orion is strengthening two-way communication with consumers by actively sharing recipes they suggest through its official social media channels and incorporating their ideas into plans for actual new products.

Ultimately, the buzzword driving the retail industry today is shifting from "selling finished products" to "providing experiences." Consumers' voluntary participation in adding something new to the familiar is reshaping the food market.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.